


Carry On

by tookumade



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Festivals, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-29 00:42:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13915722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tookumade/pseuds/tookumade
Summary: Was she doing a good job?Nametsu chewed at her bottom lip. The Spring High had been okay, hadn’t it? They hadn’t gone as far as they would’ve liked, obviously, but they had done pretty well, right? She hadn’t messed up anything major as the manager, had she?Right?





	Carry On

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic I wrote for _[Sunrise](https://hqgirlszine.tumblr.com/)_ , a zine dedicated to the wonderful female characters of Haikyuu!! Unfortunately, the zine couldn't take off in the end, but I still had a good time writing this. (•̀ᴗ•́ )و ̑̑ Please check out the zine's [twitter account](https://twitter.com/hqgirlszine) for beautiful works by participants!
> 
> Many thanks to my dear [renaissance](http://archiveofourown.org/users/renaissance) for her help in beta-ing this fic! (ʃƪ˘⌣˘) ♡

Nametsu sometimes felt that getting her rag-tag team together for _any_ sort of group activity was akin to having teeth pulled out.

She enjoyed their company, really, even if she did occasionally want to hold Futakuchi’s head underwater, but, well— _details_. Datekou was a great team on the court, and the club members always spurred each other on to be the best they could be, Nametsu included, but _off_ the court…  
  
Well, not that Nametsu could really talk. Sometimes, she got dragged along in their shenanigans, too, but for the most part, they kept themselves out of big trouble. Usually. Sort of.  
  
It’s just—there was a festival on tonight, and Nametsu _loved_ festivals, and thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get the whole volleyball team to go. She had sent messages about it to everyone in their Line chat, because who didn’t love a good festival? They could dress up in yukatas, eat good food, play games, walk around, and enjoy each other’s company! It could be a good team bonding outing! At least, that was what she tried telling them. The responses from the first years had been enthusiastic, but the replies from her fellow second years had been half-hearted and vague at best. Nametsu supposed that since they had just finished a practice match against another school yesterday, they might’ve been a little tired, but _still_.  
  
Nametsu sighed and adjusted the collar of her colourful floral yukata. Well, maybe she could find her other friends—they said they would come out for the festival, too, at some point. Or maybe she could find the volleyball club first years to walk around with. She should try to enjoy herself. Nametsu took a deep breath and began walking through the festival, amongst the noise, the people, the smell of food. As she walked, she caught sight of some classmates and other people she knew, and she thought she spotted the two managers from Karasuno strolling past and chatting about something, but she wasn’t sure—and anyway, she didn’t know them well enough to comfortably go up to them and start a conversation. Maybe one day, though; that’d be nice.  
  
Nametsu paused, looked around thoughtfully, staring unseeingly at the festival before her, and… thought about her own role as a manager.  
  
It was something she tried not to think about too much because it made her a touch nervous, but it did cross her mind with increasing frequency the closer they got to the end of the school year—that in her third year, it was likely she’d have to start looking for a junior manager to take under her wing.  
  
Would she be ready to do that? The start of third year was just a few months away, and the thought of having to already teach someone the ropes when she herself had only just started the role was really quite daunting. She had been learning on the fly so far, without any upperclassmen to properly guide her, just going by suggestions from the coaching staff and teammates, going with what she thought was the best thing to do for each scenario.  
  
Was this okay?  
  
Was she doing a good job?  
  
Nametsu chewed at her bottom lip. The Spring High had been okay, hadn’t it? They hadn’t gone as far as they would’ve liked, obviously, but they had done pretty well, right? She hadn’t messed up anything major as the manager, had she?  
  
Right?  
  
Nametsu blinked, stirring herself out of her thoughts, and she stopped chewing on her lip. She frowned.  
  
No. _Had been okay_ wasn’t enough. _Done pretty well_ wasn’t enough. _Hadn’t messed up anything major as the manager_ was… well, that was a very low bar. She had done all right—objectively, she knew this—but she could do _more_ , couldn’t she? She could be more attentive, research more about nutrition and healthy habits, talk to her team more and see how they were feeling, ask for more opinions on how she could improve, see if the coaching staff needed help with anything. Her team never backed down, never rested for too long, was never content with simple ‘that was a good match’ comments—so how could she stop and be content with doing only a _good job?_  
  
She would push her team forward and help them fight titans. She would stand at the top with them. _They would go to Nationals_.  
  
Nametsu took a deep breath and exhaled.  
  
She would learn as much as she could, and, come third year, she would pass on all she knew to a junior manager. She would be everything she herself would’ve liked in an upperclassman. She would fill in the gaps. Datekou would be strong with her as the manager, and they would continue to be strong after she was gone.  
  
“I can do this,” she murmured.  
  
Around her, the festival carried on. People walked by, laughing and chatting; vendors shouted about their wares; food stall owners cooked snacks and small meals in a frenzy; game stall owners drew in attendees with tempting chances to win prizes. Nametsu stood amongst them, suddenly feeling a little bigger, a little taller, her head a little clearer, her shoulders a little lighter.  
  
“Okay,” she said. “Okay—”  
  
“ _Nametsu!_ There you are! What are you spacing out for?”  
  
Nametsu froze. There was no mistaking that obnoxiously loud but familiar voice.  
  
She turned to her right, and, sure enough, Futakuchi was walking towards her with Aone, Onagawa, and Obara closely in tow, all beaming at her, and all wearing yukatas of various muted colours. Aone was already sporting a cat mask strapped to the side of his head, and clutching a pinwheel, a plush kappa toy, and a plush chicken toy.  
  
“Guys!” said Nametsu, stunned. “I thought you weren’t coming along today!”  
  
“When did we say that?” Futakuchi asked, hands on hips. “We never said we _wouldn’t_ come along, right?”  
  
Nametsu thought back to the Line chat, and, after a moment, realised he was right. She contented herself with pursing her lips and glaring at him. Futakuchi threw his hands up in surrender.  
  
“Okay, okay, we’ll make it clearer next time,” he said hastily.  
  
Aone prodded Nametsu’s elbow and gestured over his shoulder with his thumb at the festival sprawling around them. He nodded eagerly, eyes bright, and Nametsu couldn’t help but grin.  
  
This was okay, wasn’t it—letting herself enjoy the moment with her teammates? There wasn’t a lot of point in over-worrying. She had plenty of time for that later on.  
  
She would be okay. Today, she would allow herself this moment of breathing, like the calm before a storm. Tomorrow would be a new day, and she would jump back to her managerial duties and give it her all, like she would expect from her team—like they would expect from her.  
  
“Yeah, let’s go,” she said.  
  
The next hour was spent snacking and playing games and bumping into more people they knew. They found the first years, who only added to the general noise of their group, and if it were any other setting, Nametsu might’ve needed to calm them down, but given they were at a festival, it didn’t matter a bit. Aone kept winning small cute toys from game stalls and gave half of them to Nametsu, Sakunami, and Koganegawa; Futakuchi wreaked havoc at a shooting game booth with excellent aim, and Obara and Fukiage cheered him on; Onagawa was recording Futakuchi with his phone.  
  
Nametsu huffed a laugh as she tucked a small plush fox Aone had given her into her yukata sleeve, and Futakuchi turned to her to shout a challenge for a round at the shooting game. The others broke into cheering as she stepped up to the booth, and the stall owner passed her a game rifle.  
  
There was not a team in the world that she would swap this group for, no matter how accomplished, how powerful, how skilled. This was the team she would help take to Nationals—the team she would help build the strongest of foundations for—and she wouldn’t have it any other way.  
  
Nametsu took aim, fired, and hit the target.  


**Author's Note:**

> Anyway, not to be dramatic, but I would go to war for Nametsu Mai. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
